When COVID-19 hit, the pace of life slowed down nationwide. That wasn’t the case in the Town of Thompson Building, Planning, and Zoning Department. There was a steady increase in development projects, from new builds to expansions. In fact, over 70 applicants came before the Town Planning Board (virtually, of course) between April 2020 and March 2021.

With such a flurry of development activity taking place in a new digital realm, the Town took action to optimize its planning process. The goal? Keep the momentum going with an effective, publicly transparent system that factors in new variables like virtual meetings and remote access to documents.

Now, development projects in the Town of Thompson are moving from concept to completion faster than ever, with a very high level of quality assurance and collaboration along the way. The public has complete access to all meetings and documents. In fact, with the new digital system, citizens can view planning documents at the same time the Planning Board sees them!

Let’s take a closer look at how this innovative planning system is having a positive impact on people and projects in the Town of Thompson – and leading the way for other municipalities as they update their planning process.

NOTE: If you’d like to see for yourself how Town Planning Board meetings unfold, you can join in via Zoom. Planning Board meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. Refer to this calendar for the latest Zoom links as well as meeting agendas. The Town also streams some of the meeting on Facebook Live which is helpful when the amount of participants exceeds the limit set on Zoom.

Meetings Made Smarter

If you attend a Planning Board meeting, you’ll notice a key difference right away. The Planning Board has hired a planner from Delaware Engineering, with credentials from the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP),  to coordinate meetings. The planner facilitates discussion and decision-making in the most efficient manner possible.

The Planning Board also focused on another way to streamline meetings. They set out to eliminate pre-Planning Board work sessions. also known as the “meeting before the meeting” held a few days prior to the actual Planning Board meeting.

At these work sessions, Town consultants and the Town Planning & Building Department would review and discuss proposals. This feedback would then be presented to the Planning Board members at the upcoming meeting during a workshop held from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 pm.

Instead, the Planning Board wanted all parties – the Planning Board volunteers, the consultants, and Town staff – to discuss all documents submitted by project applicants at the same time and place: during the public Planning Board meeting!

To accomplish this goal, the Board got rid of the pre-planning board meetings. Because there is no longer any advance discussion, there is no need to present commentary during the 6:30 workshop. Meetings now begin with an open discussion about new projects.

Eliminating the pre-planning board meetings has also saved applicants time and money. Previously, applicants would have to pay their engineers or consultants to appear at these extra meetings.

Now, everyone, including planning board members, arrive at the planning board meeting ready with comments and feedback thanks to another upgrade in the planning process:

Digital Documents Improve Transparency and Streamline Meetings

There’s no way around it. Development projects involve a lot of documents: maps, site plans, proposals, legal and technical papers, and more.

Previously, a lot of time was spent at the Planning Board meetings reviewing these documents as paper packets containing all projects were available to Board members a few days before the meeting. The Planning Board decided it was time to digitize all the documents and store them in the cloud on Google Drive, a highly secure and no-cost platform.

Each project now has a designated folder on Google Drive. The Town even provided Board members with tablets so they can easily view documents like large maps and site plans during meetings.

Going digital also accomplished a key objective of the Planning Board: to give the public easy and extensive access to all information about proposed development projects in the Town of Thompson!

Now, the public as well as everyone involved in the planning process can view all documents as soon as they are available. The documents are easily accessed by clicking on the project name as referenced in each Planning Board meeting agenda for each project which is posted on the Town’s website.

Once you click on the project name, you’ll open a folder full of all documents related to the project – from land surveys to site plans. For example, in one click you can review every document for Monticello Chicken, LLC (Popeye’s Chicken).

One Form Keeps Everyone On the Same Page…Literally

Like a car engine, development projects involve many moving parts working together. To prevent any one part from getting stuck – which can bring an entire project to a standstill – the Planning Board came up with a Project Overview Form.

This is a “living” document that is updated in real-time and saved on the Town Google Drive as milestones are achieved in the planning process.

At any time, the Project Overview Form can be opened and checked for the status of approvals needed from the Town or third parties. The applicant and public can also see if there are hearings or referrals required for their project and when those are scheduled.

The Project Overview Form has already proven valuable in keeping things moving along! The form serves as a checklist for applicants, reminding them what steps must be taken next in their quest for final project approval. The form also ensures Planning Board members Town staff, and consultants and are reviewing documents in a timely manner.

At Planning Board meetings, the form is very useful in keeping everyone accountable and organized. It’s also a time saver as meeting attendees can look at the form to chart project progress instead of referring back to prior meeting minutes and lengthy documents and paper files.

The End Result: Quality Projects Come to Life in a Timely Manner

Thompson is proud to be a business-friendly town, attracting both national and local developers. This hasn’t happened by accident. The Thompson Planning Board has always had an intuitive, transparent planning process that appeals to developers.

Now, the Board has improved upon an already effective process with the recent planning process upgrades. Along the way, the Board’s process ensures that projects are still implemented with the integrity that development in the Town is known for, such as adhering to all Town zoning and building codes.

Ultimately, the improvements to the Planning Board process benefit everyone involved – and are continuing to move Thompson in the right direction…forward.